Day 72, West Yellowstone to Ennis, Montana.

Sorry, I didn't have time to edit these photos. With this little net book, it takes for ever......... More mountains.

Montana has it's share of impressive snow capped mountains.

Even the streams here are crystal clear.

Lazily drifting down stream enjoying a day of fly fishing.

At a rest stop area, we took a short break. Doesn't it just make you want to jump right in?

This is part of Earth Quake lake, formed by that massive land slide.

Little house by the lake. not too far from little house on the prairie.

Not so wild life. These horses came to the fence to check us out.

Out here, there's nowhere to pee but behind that sign.

Lewis lake. Picture perfect.

Lewis Lake again. It was quite early, so no one was out yet.

A baby eagle. mommy must be out hunting.

Earth Quake Lake from one of the scenic over looks.

The rivers in the high valleys run wild. We saw a number of fly fishermen enjoying the day.

The road to Ennis.


Day 72, West Yellowstone to Ennis, Montana. “The Long and Lonely Road”. 72.98 miles.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009. West Yellowstone was a fun little town. There were so many things to see and do. But of course, we stayed focused on the real reason for this trip, and limited ourselves to window shopping, eating, and a little sight seeing.. This morning, we skipped the traditional breakfast and ate some left over pizza from the night before. We couldn’t leave quite yet, since we didn’t pay for our second night of lodging, and the manager of the motel was no where to be found. So we waited. By 8:00AM., we were thinking about leaving the money in the room with the key, but decided to try the back door of the apartment to see if by chance the manager was inside sleeping. We were in luck, it seems that she had over slept, and the knock on the back door got her up. After settling our debt, we saddled up and headed out of town for our days journey. We had a 73 mile ride planned, and there would be only one facility along the way for food.
We rode on route 289 north out of West Yellowstone. The tall pine trees gave way to open pasture land that were lined with cattle ranches. About 20 miles out of town, we came to an RV park that had a lunch wagon and a convenience store that was open. We pulled in, and I had a chili dog dressed with home made buffalo chili. Good stuff. It was the biggest chili dog I’ve ever had, and the best if I may say so myself.

The terrain today was mostly flat, with minor climbs, and plenty of descents. We were pretty much out of the mountains, and into The Madison valley. The pasture lands slowly turned into high plains. Similar to the ones we encountered earlier in Wyoming. Lake Hebgen, a large body of water formed by a man made dam to control the water flow into the valley. We followed the Madison River for several miles, and came across Quake Lake. The name comes from a 7.6 earth quake that happened on august 19, 1959 that caused a huge land slide that blocked the Madison River and created the lake. Several people died in that unfortunate incident. The road then veered west of the river and continued along the plateau in a straight line through the high plains. We rode for several hours in wide open, dry, and almost desert like terrain. As we were approaching Ennis, a gray Dodge pick up truck whizzed by, throwing bottles at us. Fortunately, they missed. Lisa was unaware of what had just happened, and I didn’t say a word at the time since she gets really pissed off at stuff like that. I offered a prayer of thanks, because I knew the Lord had kept the bottles from hitting their mark.

Ennis, is a pretty busy town today cause of the road work on route 90 that diverted all traffic through 289. So there were lots of big trailer trucks hauling all kinds of loads on this other wise lightly traveled road. Tonight we are staying at the Camper Corner RV park. Tomorrow it’s on to Virginia City, another 70 plus mile day. Aloha everyone, thank you again for all the moral support. Ted.